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Chapter 117 – An Unforeseen Summit: Damien Lays His Heart Bare
The acupuncture session had left me drained but oddly peaceful. As Damien drove us back to my apartment, I leaned my head against the window, watching the city blur
past.
“You should rest when we get home,” Damien said, his deep voice breaking the comfortable silence. “Doctor’s orders.”
I smiled faintly. “I’m not that fragile.”
“Humor me,” he replied, flashing that half–smile that always made my heart skip.
When we reached my apartment building, Damien insisted on helping me inside despite my protests. His arm around my waist felt strong and reassuring as we made our way to the elevator. The memory of his confession about our shared past still played in my mind, making my skin tingle wherever he touched me.
As we approached my door, I fumbled for my keys, but before I could insert them into the lock, the door swung open.
“Hazel! There you are!”
I froze, staring in shock at my aunt Esther standing in my doorway, her expression a mixture of concern and curiosity as her gaze shifted between me and Damien.
“Aunt Esther? What are you-
“We were worried sick!” She pulled me into a hug, careful of my injured knee. “You weren’t answering your phone last night, and after what you said about your injury…”
“We?” I echoed, looking past her.
heat bun, her sharp eyes My grandmother rose slowly from my couch, her elegant frame betraying none of her seventy–two years. Her silver hair was pulled back in its us taking in every detail of the scene before her.
“Grandma,” I breathed, torn between delight and mortification. I hadn’t seen my maternal grandmother in months, and now here she was, witnessing me being half–carried into my apartment by a man she’d never met.
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“Hazel,” she said, her voice firm but warm. “You look pale.”
Damien’s arm tightened slightly around my waist, steadying me. I realized I needed to make introductions.
“Grandma, Aunt Esther, this is Damien Sterling, Damien, this is my grandmother, Margaret Chen, and my aunt, Esther Chen?
Damien extended his hand with perfect poise. “It’s an honor to meet you both. I’ve heard wonderful things about you from Hazel.”
My grandmother’s eyebrow arched slightly as she assessed him. “Sterling? As in Sterling Heights?”
I forgot my grandmother moved in the same high society circles as Damien’s family. My heart raced. This wasn’t how I’d planned for them to meet–if I’d planned for them
to meet at all.
“Yes, ma’am,” Damien replied, his tone respectful.
“Hmm.” She shook his hand briefly, her expression giving nothing away.
Aunt Esther was less reserved. “So you’re the one who’s been helping our Hazel? Victoria called us this morning, mentioned you’d taken her to the hospital.”
I shot a mental note to throttle Victoria later. Of course she’d called them.
“Damien was just dropping me off,” I said quickly. “He has things to do, I’m sure-
“Actually,” Damien interjected smoothly, checking his watch, “lunch should be arriving any moment. I ordered it before we left the hospital.”
As if on cue, my doorbell rang. Damien stepped back to answer it, returning with several bags from one of my favorite restaurants,
“I got a selection,” he explained, setting the bags on my kitchen counter. “I wasn’t sure what you’d prefer.”
“You’re staying for lunch, of course,” Aunt Esther told h
her tone leaving no room
for argument. She turned to me with a smile that was far too innocent. “We’d love to get to know your… friend better.”
I caught the emphasis on “friend” and felt heat rush to my cheeks. I glanced at Damien,
イ
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expecting him to make some polite excuse, but instead, he looked at me, fils expression softening.
“If Hazel doesn’t mind, he said.
All three pairs of eyes turned to me. I swallowed hard. “Of course I don’t mind
The next twenty minutes were a surreal blend of domestic normalcy and underlying tension. Aunt Esther bustled around my kitchen, setting plates and utensils while Grandma sat regally at my dining table, her sharp eyes tracking Damien’s every move as he helped unpack the food. I sat with my leg propped up as instructed, feeling strangely like a spectator in my own home.
“This is too much food,” I protested as Damien laid out container after container “Better too much than too little,” he replied, setting a plate of dumplings in front of me. Once we were all seated, Aunt Esther didn’t waste time with small talk.
“So, Mr. Sterling,” she began, her chopsticks hovering over her plate, “exactly what is your relationship with my niece?”
“Aunt Esther!” I gasped, mortified.
Damien, however, didn’t seem fazed. He set down his utensils and met my aunt’s gaze directly.
“I’m pursuing her,” he said simply. “Though she hasn’t given me a definitive answer
yet.”
The frankness of his response left me speechless. My grandmother’s chopsticks clattered against her plate.
“Pursuing?” she repeated, her tone measured. “That’s rather old–fashioned language, young man.”
“I believe in being clear about my intentions,” Damien replied. “Especially with people who care about Hazel”
My grandmother studied him. “And what exactly are your intentions? Hazel’s just been through a terrible ordeal with that Grayson boy. She’s vulnerable.”
I wanted to sink through the floor. “Grandma, please-
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“It’s alright, Hazel, Damien said gently. He turned back to my grandmother. “You’re right to be concerned. But I assure you, my intentions are honorable. I care deeply for your granddaughter.”
“You’ve known her for how long?” Aunt Esther asked.
Damien’s eyes met mine across the table, and I saw in them a silent question. I nodded slightly, giving him permission to share our story.
“Longer than she realized until recently,” he said. “We first met when I was sixteen and she was twelve, in Willow Creek.
“Willow Creek?” Aunt Esther looked confused. “When you spent summers with your father’s parents, Hazel?”
I nodded, my throat tight.
“I was staying with my grandfather at the military compound nearby, Damien continued. “I was… a difficult teenager. I’d sneak out to swim in the river, despite being warned about the currents.”
My grandmother’s expression sharpened with interest.
“One day, the current caught me. I was a strong swimmer, but not strong enough. I would have drowned if Hazel hadn’t seen me struggling and jumped in.” His voice softened. “She saved my life.”
The memory flickered in my mind–clearer now than it had been when Victoria first asked him about it. The panic in the boy’s eyes as he fought against the water. My own terror as I swam toward him, praying I could reach him in time.
“Hazel?” Aunt Esther looked at me questioningly.
“I’d forgotten until yesterday,” I admitted. “It was so long ago.”
“That wasn’t the only time, though, Damien said, his eyes never leaving mine. “Two
back to the road and days later, I was climbing trees near the old bridge. I fell and cut my leg badly. Hazel found me and used her shirt as a tourniquet. She helpe
flagged down help.”
This memory came back in a rush–the boy’s pale face, the alarming amount of blood, my frantic attempts to stop the bleeding with my favorite t–shirt.
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“I remember that shirt,” Aunt Esther said softly. “You were so upset about ruining it. You never told us what happened.”
“I promised not to tell,” I whispered, still looking at Damien. “You made me promise it would be our secret.”
He nodded. “I was supposed to be confined to the compound after the swimming incident. If my grandfather had found out I’d snuck out again…”
“So all this time…” My grandmother’s voice trailed off as she reassessed the man sitting at my table.
“All this time, I’ve remembered her,” Damien confirmed. “Twelve years old and braver than anyone I’d ever met. When our paths crossed again recently, I couldn’t believe my luck.”
The raw honesty in his voice made my heart ache. I’d never had anyone speak about me with such reverence, such clear admiration.
“And you never told her?” Aunt Esther asked, her earlier suspicion giving way to something softer.
“The timing was never right.” Damien’s expression clouded briefly. “By the time ! returned to the city years later, she was with Julian Grayson.”
My grandmother set down her chopsticks with a decisive click. “Hazel saved your life twice, and now you’re helping her after that Grayson boy broke her heart. Some might call that karma.”
“I call it a second chance,” Damien replied, his eyes finding mine again.
The air between us seemed to vibrate with unspoken emotions. I couldn’t look away from him, couldn’t break the connection that felt both brand new and ancient at the same time.
Aunt Esther cleared her throat, breaking the spell. “Well, this certainly explains a few things.”
My grandmother, however, wasn’t entirely convinced. “… Sterling family is one of the most powerful in the country,” she said bluntly. “The social gap between you two is
would be treated.”
considerable, I worry about how Haze
“Grandma!” I protested, embarrassment flooding me.
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But Damien didn’t take offense. He turned to my grandmother with complete
seriousness.
“Mrs. Chen, your concern is valid. Our backgrounds are different. But I can promise you this: Even if Hazel and I cannot achieve a fruitful outcome, I will absolutely not treat her unfairly.”
His words hung in the air, solemn as a vow. I looked at his face–the earnest set of his jaw, the unwavering sincerity in his eyes–and felt something shift deep inside me, like the final tumbler of a lock falling into place.
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